Envisionit Deep AI secures $1.65M to democratize AI diagnostic imaging in Africa

Envisionit Deep AI, a South African health tech startup that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the accessibility and quality of diagnostic imaging, has secured $1.65 million in investment from New GX Ventures SA.

Envisionit Deep AI was founded in 2019 by Dr Jaishree Naidoo, Terence Naidu and Andrei Migatchev. Its suite of products includes Radify AI, a platform that enables fast and accurate diagnosis of medical imaging, approved by the South African Health Products Regulatory Association.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Envisionit Deep AI unveiled a product that could detect COVID pneumonia from chest X-rays in less than 25 milliseconds. The firm also introduced its solutions to South Africa’s mining sector, where employees have a higher risk of getting tuberculosis.

Its platform was also deployed to drive efficiency at a 700-bed hospital in South Africa’s Northern Cape province, which had only one radiologist, and was used in several ICUs to triage patients during the pandemic’s second peak.  In radiology, the scarcity of human resources is so bad that the radiologist-to-population ratio in Kenya is 1:389,255, while in Nigeria it’s 1:566,000.

The funds will support the firm's expansion beyond South Africa and help it gain approval from the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medical Agency. The company is also rolling out a computer-assisted training model for medical practitioners.

Envisionit Deep AI's ultimate goal is to democratise access to diagnostic imaging and reduce burdens in the healthcare system, especially in Africa, where infrastructure and human resource investments remain dismal.